Italiano
A union of excellent families: Taittinger and the Illy Group
On Tuesday, July 4, an important and exclusive importation and distribution accord was announced in Milan between Maison Taittinger and the Illy Group to be done through Domori. The accord was sealed with a toast of Comtes de Champagne 2006, a vintage and classy Blanc de Blancs.
An epochal change took place for Maison Taittinger which after 60 years having Turin’s Pescarmona as its distributor in Italy moved into the arms of the Illy Family with an exclusive importation and distribution accord to be done through Domari , a company in the Illy group that is a world leader for gourmet chocolate. It was a decision that Maison President Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger – who was there at the official presentation in Milan with his son Clovis who is the Maison’s director – said was very intense given the complexity of the intrinsic and delicate contractual relations between Taittinger and the previous Italian importer.
And yet he and Riccardo Illy seemed to have an immediate understanding between them, undoubtedly due to the great affinity between the two family-run enterprises which shave a similar history given that the Maison was founded in Reims in 1932 and the Italian company was founded in Trieste in 1933, under the name the Illy & Hausbrandt Coffee and Chocolate Industry. And although the two company’s may seem relatively young considering other Champagne and Chocolate enterprises that have centuries of history, the two companies built their brands sharing common values in production, top quality prime materials and excellence in productive research which allowed them to become iconic marques for the leading role they were able to carve out for each otheron a world level in a short period of time.
Maison Taittinger is on the verge of a rebirth after an adventurous two-year period, between 2005-2007, when it came under the control, through the Socièté du Louvre, of the American Starwood Capital group, before the Taittinger family regained control with the help of Credit Agricole. Remaining French was a patriotic move also in honor of founder Pierre Taittinger who as a young man was a cavalry officer during the First World War. His regiment was headquartered in Chateau de la Marquetterie and it was then that he promised to himself that after the war he would acquire this splendid 18
Today’s the Maison’s strength lies in its 288 hectares of vineyards spread out over 37 Cru situated above all in Montage de Reims, in Pierry and Cote de Blancs, which produce the extraordinary Grand Cru grapes that distinguish their most prestigious production, Comtes de Champagne. This cuvée was created in 1952 on instructions of founder Pierre Taittinger to represent the best of what the Maison’s Chardonnay vineyards could offer, a maximum expression of Taittinger’s elegant, mineral and refined style.
